Legal Observers NSW has been monitoring the application of police bail conditions to protestors in NSW since 2021. This report sets out common types of bail conditions applied to protestors and notes the growing trend of police applying bail conditions that seek to restrict association with protest groups and participation in any kind of protest…

Legal Observers NSW fielded a team of observers at the Palestine Action Group rally at the NSW Labor Conference at Sydney Town Hall on 27 July. Incidents observed included police OC spraying a protestor at close range after wrongfully identifying him as the cause of a disturbance created by a counter-protestor, police issuing unlawful move-on…

You can download and read our submission to the legislative reviews of NSW anti-protest laws here. Key points:

Legal Observers NSW fielded observer teams at Port Botany ZIM Shipping protests on 21 November 2023 and 24 March 2024. Read the full report here

Since the beginning of October 2023, Legal Observers NSW has fielded observers at 19 weekly street rallies protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The policing of these rallies has been marked by ubiquitous surveillance, police and state pushback and the deployment of higher than usual levels of police resources, including a new protest-focused taskforce ‘Operation Mealing’…

Legal Observers NSW has been monitoring the policing of independent protest in NSW through carrying out independent legal observing at protests and collecting first-hand accounts from protestors. This report collects case studies of the policing of environmental protest in NSW in 2021-22, using data collected from observing, protestor accounts and publicly available information. Read the…

Re: Kvelde v State of New South Wales [2023] NSWSC 1560 Today the Supreme Court of NSW has ruled that provisions of the anti-protest laws rushed through parliament in 2022 are unconstitutional.  In March 2022 the NSW government pushed these laws through parliament without consultation, and in only 72 hours from introducing the bill, dismissing…

On 26 November Legal Observers NSW fielded a team of independent legal observers at the Rising Tide protest in Newcastle. Observers were present to document the actions of police and connect any protestors arrested with legal representation.  Five legal observers were arrested by NSW Police while carrying out their role and three of them charged…

We are deeply disturbed by the repression of peaceful protests at the Indo Pacific naval defence exposition in Sydney this week. NSW Police have arrested 9 people following protestor gatherings along the Darling Harbour foreshore on Monday and Tuesday. Several protestors have been charged with participating in an unlawful assembly, which carries a maximum 6…